To Not Give In

Six || Part 1: No Biting--Oops

She sniffed and took another piece of tatami iwashi, this time tossing the whole thing into her mouth and chewed violently.

A girl...? In the Shinsengumi? It had to be Chizuru then.

"Well, how terrible of that samurai. That girl sound really brave too. Now, you absolutely won't be able to guess what Ryo-san said the other day..." I started.

"Please entertain me," a rumbling voice interrupted. "What did I say the other day, Katsurou-san?"

Uh-oh. Slowly, I turned my head to the front of the table and my eyes slowly crawled up the form of a very angry, very purple-faced, Ryo-san. He had his fists at his sides, and a vein was popping in his forehead. I peered behind him to see Chise-san's apologetic face. She mouthed, Sorry, I kept him off your trail for as long as I could.

"About that..." I chuckled awkwardly. I glanced out of the corner of my eyes. Sen nodded, giving me a small good luck smile and slipped a few coins of payment onto the table before quickly getting up and leaving.

I looked back at my boss. Well. I was in for it.

***

It could have been worse. I could've gotten a year's pay-cut. I could've gotten fired. Instead though, Ryo-san merely screamed at me for about five minutes about being lazy and not serving customers well and all that whatnot, and then assigned me to do the dishes for the rest of the day and tidy up the restaurant for everyone else before I left.

Not that bad, really. Except for the screaming part.

When I was done, the sky was pitch black except for the few stars which winked in the dark. Lanterns were blown out and doors were closed. I was the only one on the streets.

As I was walking back to the inn, I was imagining just how much of a perfect setting this was for one of those 'monster-pop-out-of-nowhere' horror movies.

"A serial killer could pop up with a chainsaw," I said aloud as I strolled down the empty street, kicking a pebble to the side. "Not that the killer would have a chainsaw. I mean, come on, Avalon! Those weren't even invented yet." I slapped my forehead. "Or maybe Dracula can just pop appear and be like, 'I vant to suck your blood!'"

God, my Romanian accent was horrible. I giggled.

Then I felt it. A prickly, icy feeling crawling up the back of my neck. Slowly, I looked up.

And leaped right out of the way.

My body slammed to the ground with a loud thump just as something inhumanely fast landed on the spot I'd been standing on just seconds ago. With its back facing me, all I saw was its snow-white hair illuminated under the moon, and the back of the blue haori it was wearing. My mind still wasn't registered on what was going on....until it's head jerked around and I saw its glowing ruby-red eyes.

Rasetsu.

Suddenly, I couldn't remember how to breathe. I could only remain frozen as it slowly turned its crouched body around. Its face was horribly contorted into a mask of insanity and glutton, and it bared its teeth at me, showing off two extremely sharp canines. Only when it began stalking towards me did I suddenly find myself automatically springing up, and sprinting down the street.

Holycrapholycrapholycrapholycrap!

"BLOOD!" the rasetsu screeched as it bounded after me. "GIVE ME BLOOD!"

My blood?

Heart pounding, I glanced over my shoulder and nearly choked. Just a few moments later and it would be close enough to tackle me. To sink its teeth into my flesh. To tear my neck into bloody ribbons.

And that was what it promptly did. Well, it didn't rip into my throat just yet, but it did tackle me to the ground. I fell to the ground with a scream (who wouldn't?) and desperately clawed at the ground, squirming, kicking, struggling. But it was no use. The difference in strength was too great.

The fury's vise-like grip on my shoulders tightened and out of the corner of my eyes, I saw its head coil back like a cobra. It was about to strike! Tears were stinging my eyes and streaming down my face and I was still struggling. I couldn't die yet! I didn't want to die!

Something--I had to do something--anything to escape! My mind spun and whirred like a clockwork machine as I desperately tried to think of a way to free myself.

A split second before it attacked, I found myself spinning my head around, my mouth wide open—and I clamped my teeth down as hard as I could into the flesh of the fury's hand. My mouth filled with the coppery taste of blood as my teeth pierced its skin. I felt the stickiness of the gore coating my tongue and teeth.

Bile rose in my throat but I held it back. Disgusting. I spat, splattering drops of blood onto the dirt ground.

The fury howled and its grip loosened. I used that moment to jab my elbow at it with all my strength, causing it to release its hold on me. Scrambling out from under it, I got back onto my feet, and ran as fast as I could away. Away, away, away. Even when my lungs and throat burned and my feet felt like cement blocks were attached to them, I still ran.

And not once did I look back.

Amazingly, I managed to make it back to the inn. I stumbled up the stairs to my room, covering my mouth with my forearm to prevent blood from dripping onto the floors. Once I reached my room, I slammed the door shut, and collapsed onto the ground, gasping and choking.

I was crying from relief. Crying from the near-death experience. Tears rolled down my face and I couldn't stop sobbing. My heart still thundered at a mile a minute in my chest, threatening to burst out any second. It was so loud. Like there was a set of drums inside my chest.

Once I couldn't cry anymore, I let out a big sigh as I lied on my back on the tatami mat. I made a silent oath to myself:

Never imagine Dracula or any bloodsucking creature attacking me. Especially when I was alone and walking down the streets at the dead of night.